UNDER the guise of safeguarding citizens’ financial futures, Aderemi Olufemi Adeoye, the immediate past Police commissioner in Anambra state, allegedly established a network of investment platforms – Alpha Trust Insurance Club (ATIC). Although it was purportedly aimed at enriching the lives of Nigerians, the investigation proved otherwise as many investors said they fell victim of deceit and fraud.
With what seemed like an opportunity to invest his hard-earned money in numerous opportunities marketed by his friend in 2019, Adewole Adewusi was captivated by the prospect of financial growth that he joined the Alpha Trust Insurance Club (ATIC).
His friend had marketed ATIC as an emerging investment club in the process of getting registered with the Lagos State Government and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
But his belief was that the former Anambra state police commissioner, who was a senior officer at the time, would only join as a member, not as head of the club since it is against Nigerian law for a police officer to own or manage a business.
After he was asked to pay N5,000 for the application form and N100,000 to acquire 50,000 ordinary shares of the club, Adewusi enlisted and subscribed to several offers marketed to all members.
However, during the course of this investigation, Adeoye refunded the amount paid for the shares, which according to Adewusi, violated the agreed terms as the shares were now worth more.
“He paid that back to signify that we have been officially expelled. Despite saying that the shares were now worth N8 each, he paid us using the rate at which we bought at the year of joining. So I got N100,000 for 50,000 shares instead of N200,000 as per current valuation.
His investment, which amounted to N13.4 million (thirteen million, four hundred thousand naira) included N3 million worth of investment in New Jerusalem Estate, Shimawa; N1.1 million investments in Swiss Luxury Estate, Shimawa; N5 million worth of investment in Miami Beachfront Estate Lekki, and another N1.1 million invested in Pavilion Estate, Epe.
Other investments undertaken by Adewusi were at the Sujimoto Banana Island, Ikoyi at N1.9 million; Jerusalem Extension at N2 million and a deposit of N1 million for Crypto Investment.
Although Adewusi could not provide key investment documents, receipts or a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to show that he invested in this business, as he said the club did not give out any such thing, many debit alerts seen by The ICIR show that he made payment to an account that carried the business name ATIC.
There was also a certificate of investment for the 50,000 shares he purchased when he first joined the club.
“These ‘investments’ were sold at different times (between 2020-2022) by the president of the club, CP Remi Adeoye, without recourse to any investment committee.
He would unilaterally visit a place, meet with an estate agent and announce that the land was legitimate; that the club was going to acquire land on behalf of members, and that those interested should pay by x amount for a plot of land.
“This was the number one red flag. Later we discovered that there was no corporate governance. The man was using his own account to transact business; he was the only one transferring money and paying dividends. the few people around him seemed not to know anything aside from doing what he told them,” he added.
Club registered but no audited account submitted
Adewusi, alongside some other members who spoke to The ICIR, said some of them later asked for the club to be registered, thinking that it would provide an opportunity to have both structure and corporate governance.
But since the club got registered, he said it never submitted an audited account with the Lagos State ministry of commerce, industry, and cooperatives.
“In 2021, he teamed up with Sujimoto Construction Limited and marketed an investment in a project at Banana Island. He asked members to contribute to buying the whole floor of a luxury apartment.
“As usual, there was no discussion or project evaluation. He simply asked members to deposit money and he transferred about N1 billion to the company. Till today, the place has not been developed and money has not been refunded. Yet he is saying those of us who want to leave must lose 30 per cent of our investment even when the developer did not even have approval for the property development.”
33 victims petition IGP
On May 23, 2023, 33 Nigerians who invested in ATIC, wrote to the Inspector General of Police (IG), Kayode Egbetokun, to seek his intervention in the case of the operation of the cooperative, alleged fraudulent diversion, and misappropriation of funds by Adeoye.
The petitioners who claimed to have invested over N500 million also requested that Adeoye be compelled to disengage from running the investments with immediate effect, with an undertaking not to touch or deal in any assets belonging to the club, while also listing offences bordering on 19 gross misconducts against him.
The ICIR contacted the IGP’s office to find out if any action was taken on the petition. But the Force Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), who promised to inquire and revert failed to do so.
However, in response to the allegations in a report (archived here), Adeoye described the claims in the petition as a smear campaign aimed at tarnishing his reputation, attributing their action to greed and avarice.
According to him, the agitation started when the breakaway group, which had been expelled from the club, learnt that its assets were worth about N20 billion.
After consulting sources beyond the 33 petitioners who were club members, The ICIR gathered that Adeoye’s schemes had inflicted untold suffering upon countless individuals, as he withheld their investments, leaving them in financial ruin.
After speaking to sources and reviewing official documents, The ICIR discovered that investment payments amounting to about N20 million were found to have been paid to the ATIC by members for investment purposes.
This was aside the alleged N500 million worth of investment by the 33 petitioners.
How investors were sold ‘fake’ fortunes
Sometime in 2018, Adeoye began approaching some persons on Facebook, with sources noting that he projected himself to them and many others as an upright person and a champion for victims of fraud. He also claimed to have helped some persons who had been defrauded on the social media platform in the past.
It was gathered that Adeoye’s vision involved members of the cooperative club pooling their resources to invest in various products and investments, with profits distributed based on individual investment levels. He was also said to have put forward the idea that members could benefit from discounted prices by collectively purchasing landed properties in large groups.
Although all the investors who spoke to The ICIR said there was no binding document or MoU between the two parties, their confidence in investing in the business was because it was fronted and led by a senior police officer.
In May 2020, ATIC was formally registered with the Lagos State Government as a cooperative multipurpose society. The club was expected to work by inviting members to buy shares and also invest their money to collectively execute a profitable project.
For instance, in July 2020, an individual who wanted to purchase a share in the ATIC business and ventures would pay a minimum of N150,000 to purchase 50,000 units of shares and N10,000 fee for cooperative dues.
The ICIR learnt that one unit of shares was equal to 30 kobo as profit, meaning that every shareholder would get around N15,000 as profit every year. However, investors could pay as much as they wanted to the club in order to purchase land, estate, and other projects, hoping that in a year or two, they would sell at a profit.
In one of Adeoye’s rebuttals, The ICIR observed that eight plots of land valued at N10 million in 2018 were said to be worth N100 million in 2024.
Despite the accrued profits and the promised duration to sell the land to the public or even the ATIC members, investigations revealed that these promises were nothing more than a smokescreen for a scheme designed to defraud innocent investors.
Breaking the law
Through speaking to legal experts, investors and sources and carefully observing documents and alerts, The ICIR gathered that Adeoye violated Nigeria’s extant law, including the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Constitution.
Records from the CAC and documents obtained by The ICIR show that Adeoye is the proprietor of ATIC business and ventures and had always prided himself as the owner. One of such disclosures was contained in an interview with Arise Television.
The club was registered in 2019, with Adeoye as one of the registered proprietors alongside Egbele David Kaykay, and Olarewaju Babatunde Akanbi.
What the law says
In Nigeria, public office holders are prohibited from owning businesses, except farming, according to the Nigerian Constitution and the Code of Conduct Bureau. This constitutional provision aims to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that public officers prioritise their official duties over personal gains.
Although Adeoye became the Anambra state police commissioner a few years after registering the club with the CAC, he had served as the DC (deputy commissioner) operations in the state command between 2021 and 2022.
Prior to this role, he also served as the DC in charge of Finance & Administration at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, and as the DC Police Mobile Force Coordinator for the South-East in Operations to Restore Peace.
According to legal experts, Abdul Mahmud, a human rights lawyer, and Emmanuel C. Ike, a counsel at G.Ofodile Okafor (SAN) & co, the provisions of sections 1 and 2(b) of the 5th schedule part 1 of the Constitution 1999 clearly define who a public officer is, including police bosses.
“By virtue of section 9 of the 5th schedule part 2 of the constitution 1999, all members of the Nigeria police officers come within the meaning of “public officers,” says Mahmud.
Section 1 (a) of the 5th schedule states that: “A public officer shall not place himself in a position in which his personal interest conflicts with his public duties and responsibilities; (b) a public officer shall not engage or participate in the management or running of a private business, profession, or trade. He is only allowed by the constitution to engage in farming.’’
As established by the legal practitioners, the consequences of a breach of the 5th schedule of the Constitution 1999 borders on removal from his position, seizure, and forfeiture of any property acquired in the course of the business and criminal prosecution in a court of law for running a ‘ponzi scheme.’
Breach of trust
Just like Adewusi explained how he lost about N13.4 million to what he described as a ponzi scheme founded by Adeoye, *Azizat (not real name) said she also had her money taken away without any return on her capital.
Azizat noted that she got to know about ATIC and Adeoye in 2020 and invested in the business due to his ‘publicised integrity on social media,’ not knowing that she would have no return on her investment three years after.
Aside from purchasing shares worth N150,000, she estimated her investment to be N3.15 million in land purchases.
According to her, in 2020, she paid N750,000 for a half plot of land to be purchased in Abuja, with the plan of getting her capital back later but the club denied her the opportunity.
She quoted Adeoye as stating that the current value of the land was N4 million per plot, meaning that should the land be sold, she would be expecting N2 million.
She said she also deposited the sum of N400,000 for land at Jerusalem Extension, Ogun state, in 2021. The ICIR sighted various debit alerts showing payment made by Azizat to ATIC for different real estate investments.
Azizat said she further invested in one plot of land on Miami Beachfront, Lagos at N1 million in 2021, with the current value being N5 million and another N1 million investment in Sujimoto Banana Island, Lagos in 2021, with a promise of 300 per cent return on the investment after 2 years. This, she said, was not the case as she was forcibly removed from the club for showing support to the call for accountability.
She further noted that many investors believed that the Sujimoto Banana Island project does not exist as Adeoti lied about getting approval from the Lagos state government to carry on with the construction.
“I started sensing a red flag when there were no updates about our investments, requests, and inquiries were not attended to promptly. In addition, one of the biggest investors, Tosin Adeoti, put up all his shares (about 3,000,000 units) for sale, and the 2023 dividend was also not paid on time, and most investors have yet to receive theirs,” she said.
Adeoye’s alleged failure to pay return of investment and refund money back to investors could be tried at a criminal court for breach of trust and fraud as it is against the country’s extant law, according to Ike, a legal expert who spoke with The ICIR.
“So on the other hand, you register (as a public officer) a company or cooperative pulling funds or investments and all that. That’s already a violation of the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.
“However, the resultant effect of what you are now doing with the money of the subscribers or investors; that they are not getting their money and all these things is actually a fraud. The person is perpetrating fraud because you cannot even show them what you have done with their money, neither is he able to return their money. It is actually a fraud that could ignite a legal suit against him. And the provisions of the law that deal with fraud will come in, whether in the ICPC Act or EFCC,” he explained.
When The ICIR reached out to Sujimoto construction limited for clarification regarding claims made by some of the investors that it never received approval from the Lagos state government before selling the Banana Island project to Remi Adeoye or ATIC, it claimed that it had relevant approvals sought and obtained from the authorities.
“Please further note that within the ambit of protecting and maintaining the confidentiality obligation we owe our partners, we can confirm that we currently have a cordial relationship with ATIC as they have a subsisting private investment with our firm Sujimoto said in response to an email from The ICIR.
The construction company then directed The ICIR to channel any inquiry to ATIC management, which was done but they never replied.
When contacted via phone call, the Lagos State ministry of lands public affairs officer, Deola Harry, said the state could not confirm whether it approved Sujimoto for the said project in Banana Island, in 2021, without the title document, which ATIC failed to provide.
Removed from club for demanding accountability
Azizat was not the only victim of this scheme. In fact, most of the victims who queried the structure of the club were said to have been forcefully expelled from the club without assurance of receiving their capital and profit of investment made.
Aside from the investors interviewed by The ICIR, about nine names were discovered to have been removed from the club’s business lounge for demanding transparency and the setting up of an investment committee.
Tokunbo Peters, one of the investors, told The ICIR that when he sensed a brewing crisis within the club following the failure of Adeoye to promptly pay investors their shares and provide detailed accounts of the investment made since 2020, he communicated his concerns and decision to exit the club to Adeoye.
But to his surprise, he, alongside other dissent voices, was removed and blocked from the main business lounge of the club and was subsequently migrated to a newly created platform tagged ‘exit lounge’. This was also for a short time as he was later removed from that exit lounge.
“Shortly afterward, I was blocked from the exit lounge by one of the choristers. I had to complain privately and publicly to Remi Adeoye before I was added back. I consider it totally wrong to unilaterally remove people from a club’s platform and declare that they cease to be members, when they were yet to be paid their accrued dividends and monies invested in the club. As long as our money is in the club, we remain financial members of the club. Now we are being made to wait endlessly till God knows before our entitlements would be paid.
“Since the club is said to have assets in excess of N20 billion and since our share purchase capital was invested in acquiring some of those assets, why is it difficult for the ‘financial wizard’ managing the club to convert some of those assets into cash and pay the exiting members?
“As I write, there is no time frame for the payment of the money invested in the club by people like me who have signified our intention to leave, and at the same time we have been removed and blocked from the business lounge of the club,” he added.
Investment in crypto despite FG’s ban
In 2021, Adeoye allegedly marketed another investment opportunity to members involving crypto investments despite the federal government’s ban on business transactions in such assets at that time.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in February 2021 barred banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in crypto assets, citing money laundering and terrorism financing risks.
According to the apex bank, the directive was prompted by the inherent risks of money laundering and terrorism financing, vulnerabilities inherent in their operations, and the absence of regulations and consumer protection measures.
However, to evade that, Adeoye allegedly instructed members to make payments into ATIC business accounts by making sure not to include the word ‘crypto’ in any of their transactions.
Messages on the club’s Facebook group chat, showed two instances where such directives were passed.
Similarly, in June 2022, Adeoye announced a second wave of cryptocurrency investments to members, promising to return their capital by the end of the year. But, much like the first investment in 2021, investors who spoke to The ICIR said they have yet to receive their capital or any dividends.
Adeoye also assured those wishing to discontinue their investments that they would be paid by the end of June 2022, with capital payments to depositors by the year’s end. However, this has not happened, and some of the investors, including Adewusi, who questioned Adeoye, said they have been labeled as ‘criminals.’
In an interview with Arise Television and monitored by The ICIR, Adeoye was asked about the crypto investment more than two twice, but he dodged the question each time, refusing to make any comment on the investment.
Ex- Police chief evades The ICIR’s inquiries
On April 27, The ICIR attempted to reach out to the former police chief through phone calls, text, and WhatsApp messages, but he did not respond. Prior to this, The ICIR reporter tried contacting him via a third party on April 14, 18, and 22, while Adeoye was still the commissioner of Police in Anambra, but he claimed the commissioner was busy planning his retirement, thereby declining to speak regarding the findings.
ATIC yet to submit annual audited accounts since inception- Lagos ministry of commerce
Although the Lagos State Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Cooperatives in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request noted that it does not typically perform audits for cooperative societies in the state, it said it is the duty of all cooperative societies to render their audited accounts along with other relevant returns to the ministry for due assessment and approval.
The ministry said it only conducts the audit of a society’s accounts as may be necessary, such as when petitions are received from members of the society. However, the ministry confirmed that it had received complaints about ATIC, adding that all complaints were being attended to.
According to the FOIA response which The ICIR obtained on Wednesday, May 8, ATIC has yet to submit its annual audited accounts to this ministry since it was registered.
However, during the Arise Television interview, Adeoye had conceded that the club has not done any auditing since its inception, saying that there was no need for an audit as many members were satisfied with the deposit slips and receipts of transactions posted on its Facebook page.
Just as the investors alleged that Adoeye labelled them criminals, he acknowledged that certain individuals, whom he later referred to as criminals, had requested an audit of the club’s accounts due to their ‘greed’ in late December.
“…Because we run zero expense payment, we have never invited any external auditor to audit the books and our members have been satisfied with it for the past five years, until around December last year to January this year that some members out of greed and, based on the calculation of the current worth of our assets, they said they wanted the account audited and we said there are procedures to follow,” Adeoye told Arise news journalists.
He added that these members were expelled after a meeting of the board of trustees, as they had been threatening the club’s leadership over what he described as ‘imaginary’ money.
“The joint panel took a decision to expel them. Expulsion does not mean they forfeit their investment. They were advised to liaise with the management in an exit lounge we created for them to collect their investment. As I speak to you, the majority of the members have already raised a sum of 150 million to buy all those shares and raise capital for our venture into business,” he said.
Adeoye denies further allegations
While Adeoye failed to respond to messages sent to his phone and pick up calls made to his line, he has publicly denied several of the allegations made against him.
He said he never used his office to harass or threaten members of the club, amass wealth or go contrary to the civil service rule.
By his own interpretation of the civil service rules and Police code of conduct, he noted that a police officer (boss) is not banned from investing in land or property or buying shares.
“There is no law against investing in land or property. The only thing is that you must be able to justify the means. There is no law against being a member of a cooperative. Many public servants are members of cooperatives in their churches with their age mates and age grade in their town unions even in their workplace. I am also a member of the Nigeria police cooperative and when the club I founded was mentioned I had the word ‘limited’ added to it,” he was quoted to have said.
Aside failure to clarify whether the law allows a public servant like him to own and run a business and himself as the president of a cooperative or an investment company, he also failed to clarify whether being a member of a cooperative society is the same as being a founding president and owner of the club.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M